poita

Jackson is going to spend a fair amount of time rucking against Silvagni. Luke simply has to have an impact tomorrow night.

I'd be furious if I was the MRO or the tribunal. The correct decision was made on both occasions and should have stood. This was opinion shopping by Carlton, nothing more. It was a disgrace that the AFL allowed them to appeal, and even more disgraceful that the appeals board spent more than four hours hearing and then making an incorrect decision. The system is broken if clubs can keep on appealing at no cost. At least we know now that anything goes in a marking contest these days. I'll be disappointed if May or Hibberd don't plough through Cripps at the first opportunity on Saturday night. So long as they wave their arms in the general direction of the ball, they can do whatever want.

What's the penalty / cost for appealing tribunal verdicts? If there is no deterrent (eg extra week penalty), I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

Who are the available players that would improve our list who do not want to come to the club? Good key forwards are hard to come by, and expensive to recruit. If Collingwood want to pay McStay $600K a year, good luck to them. Franklin is 35 and wants $800K which prices us out. I don't see a Tom Lynch or Jeremy Cameron on the market this year, not even a Peter Wright. Maybe you could make a play for Mitch Georgiades, but West Coast would seem more likely. Perhaps better to save some cap space and make a play for Harry McKay next year.

Given the amount of publicity that Mason Cox attracts, I was stunned to find out he wasn't a dual Brownlow Medallist, five time premiership player and All Australian regular.

Kennedies?

This is where McRae clearly outcoached Goodwin. Collingwood were happy to use Mihocek and (largely) Ginnivan to drag May and Lever out of the play. That left Hibberd and Petty to flounder one out against Elliott and Johnson. We should have stuck to our preferred structure even if it didn't give us the match ups we wanted.

Harmes for Sparrow should be a given. We then need to bring in another tall up forward. Van Rooyen for Spargo is my preference. Spargo plays too far up the ground and too wide, and consequently is rarely a factor either offensively or defensively. Melksham can equally deliver the ball inside 50, but will also keep Docherty more honest. Van Rooyen, assuming he can stay out of Brown's way, will provide another marking target inside forward 50.

How many of Oliver's possessions benefited the team? He is without doubt a wonderful player, but most of his disposals on Friday were pretty ordinary. In particular, his reluctance to kick started a number of pointless chains of handpasses that ultimately resulted in us losing possession.

50K would be a very good result on Saturday night. We only got 38K to last year's game when we were 8-0 and playing really well at the time. If only 20K - 25K Melbourne fans turn up again, I can't see another 25K - 30K Carlton fans attending given their current form.

Every part of Gawn's set shot routine and set up is abysmal. The guy is currently our main target inside 50 and he hasn't kicked a goal since round 12. At present he'd have more chance of kicking a goal by facing the opposition goal and kicking over his head. Melksham's decision to kick around the corner on his left foot in the second quarter and Pickett's miss in the third quarter were just awful. I knew we wouldn't win after Pickett's effort.

I love Jesse and would have him back in a heartbeat, but I can't see how his style of play would suit the way we seemingly want to play. He'd be a great fit for Collingwood with their quick ball movement, but he would hate sitting in the pocket waiting to be crunched by ten defenders whilst we stuff around on the wing.

Serious question, exactly what is Jackson contributing to the team at the moment? He's getting flogged in the ruck, can't take a mark and doesn't kick goals. He wants to get paid a fortune to run around like a midfielder, but he's getting 12 largely mediocre touches a week. Not having a third ruck on the list is a major list management failure.

When you keep opening your mouth and making stupid comments, you'd better be able to perform. Ed was terrible from midway through the 2nd quarter. Very disappointing.

Well done to the 50K Collingwood fans who turned up loud and proud to an away game. The biggest game this club has played in Melbourne for 4 years, and our fans stayed away in droves. Absolutely pathetic.

Each pick has a points value. If North bid on Ashcroft with their pick 1, Brisbane need to find enough points to match that bid (less the 20% discount for father / son selections). I don't see how Brisbane could get both Ashcroft & Fletcher without trading in a bunch of picks given their current selections.

I can't believe people are having a serious conversation about Brodie Grundy. Toby Nankervis is the perfect example of letting someone else do the work developing a ruckman and then bringing him in at a low price. See also Darcy Cameron, Marc Pittonet, Oscar McInerney. Not necessarily superstars, but all capable ruckmen in top 8 teams who make a contest and bring the ball to the ground for their midfielders. If (when) Jackson leaves, this has to be the way forward. No point spending truckloads of money and high draft picks on a bloke in the second half of his career. Find a ruckman in the AFL system seeking more opportunity and then pick up the best state league ruckman as a mature backup.

The number one factor in Geelong's favour is the lower cost of living. The cost of buying a house in a nice area 20 - 30 mins from Kardinia Park must be significantly lower than the cost of buying the same house 20 - 30 mins from the MCG. Of course you will play for less money if your living costs are reduced by the same (or greater) amount.

There's no doubt in my mind that part of Weideman's role in this game was to restrict Pearce from getting to contests and taking intercept marks, and he did a good job in that respect. But for a guy who is clearly low on confidence to be so reluctant to tackle and chase and generally impact the game is just bizarre. The easiest way to get involved in the game is to lay a tackle or make a block that helps a teammate.

The only positive from Neeld's time was that we knew for certain where rock bottom was and that the only way we could head from there was up.

We already have Dunstan on the list, and have been reluctant to play him even when there have been clear opportunities to do so. I don't think we need Crouch as well, but we definitely need to add some quality young midfielders to the list. Zero chance Balta leaves Richmond.

This year has been a bit of a struggle in a lot of ways. I'm not a fan of night games other than on big occasions, and I don't like the match day "experience" that is forced upon us. It feels much harder to get to and from games at night, and this affects my enjoyment. Crowds are down and there is a lot of noise around football these days that is unconnected to the game itself. The team is largely playing dour, contested football which, while generally effective, is not always attractive to watch. The Brisbane game was excellent, but other highlights have been few and far between. Part of the attraction of last year was seeing young kids debuting and thriving, and the side stepping up to meet each new challenge. This year it is a far more seasoned group, and there is less to be enthused about with a number of individuals. I believe that we are capable of turning our form around in the next month, but am becoming increasingly less confident of it happening. The fear of an early finals exit after last year's success is eating away at me at the moment.

We'll be lucky to kick 10 goals this week if we go in with the same personnel in the forward line. Another big body is a must, which presumably means JVR to come in as virtually the last man standing. Relying on Daw to be our entire ruck / forward depth looks more stupid with every passing week. Spargo has kicked 1 goal 3 behinds since round 9, so he is the obvious man to come out. Only 5 goal assists in the past 8 weeks as well. I don't care how many touches he gets on the wing, he has to kick goals and make forward 50 tackles to hold his spot. Hunt to HBF, Brayshaw to the wing, Jordon to VFL. Should free up Salem a bit as well. Lever in for Tomlinson. I'm yet to be convinced that Tomlinson wasn't largely responsible for Ugle-Hagen's goal feast. Very tempted to bring in Dunstan for either Sparrow or Harmes, probably Sparrow, because I have no idea what he contributes when he is not in the midfield. If Rivers is out as mooted, Bowey to return. On notice: Jackson, Salem, Harmes.

Watching Collingwood win the game against Essendon in the last 20 seconds, I wondered whether our players would have had the necessary dare and courage to go away from the predictable kick in strategy that has become so ingrained in their game over the past year. Clearly Collingwood were helped by Essendon's woeful defensive set up, but they still had to pick out the loose player and move the ball the length of the field without stopping. Interesting that Pendlebury was already planning and setting up the next play whilst the Essendon players were watching Jones line up for goal. That's the type of leadership that separates the good clubs from the rest. As an aside, Elliott's contest and mark against two opponents was outstanding, and the kick for goal was a thing of beauty.

I was so disappointed in Sam after quarter time on Saturday. After two goals in the first quarter, he should have been feeling great about himself and his chances of having a big game against ordinary opposition. Thereafter he simply failed to compete. After seven years, how is it that we can't get him to attack the ball with any degree of intensity and desire? I thought Melksham's ability to nullify contests on Saturday when outnumbered or outsized was infinitely better than Weideman's.